Working as an attorney in U.S

2 3

Posted Mar 25, 2009 01:28

Hello,

I ask you to excuse my ignorance but what should I do to work as a lawyer in the U.S? I am a lawyer in my country (Malta) in possession of a European LLB and also a diploma as Notary Public (Dip. Not.). I believe that the only route for me would be to get an LLM in the U.S and then attempt the NY or CA bar examination no? Please correct me if I am wrong. I would like to do a masters in law anyway so what would be a good university for an LLM?

Thanks a lot for any help, this site is very very helpful.

quote

koala

86 171

Posted Mar 25, 2009 11:28

Hello,

I ask you to excuse my ignorance but what should I do to work as a lawyer in the U.S? I am a lawyer in my country (Malta) in possession of a European LLB and also a diploma as Notary Public (Dip. Not.). I believe that the only route for me would be to get an LLM in the U.S and then attempt the NY or CA bar examination no? Please correct me if I am wrong. I would like to do a masters in law anyway so what would be a good university for an LLM?

Thanks a lot for any help, this site is very very helpful.

Hi,

1. To be able to qualify as a US attorney, you would indeed need to attend a LLM in the US to be able to take some bar exams like NY. This is certainly true for lawyers coming from civil law jurisdictions. However, as Malta was under British influence it may be a common law jurisdiction. If so, I would encourage you to check with the NY Bar board of examiners (http://www.nybarexam.org/) directly whether you would qualify to take the NY Bar exam without a US LLM.

2. California usually allows qualified lawyers from civil law jurisdictions to take their bar exam. Please note that the CA Bar exam has a reputation for being one of the most selective in the US. Once again I would incite you to check with them directly what is possible (http://www.calbar.ca.gov/state/calbar/calbar_home.jsp)

3. Regarding your last question and considering the money to be invested in a LLM, I would encourage you to try to attend the best possible program in the US. A US LLM will undoubtedly be expensive so I do not think that it is worth investing your money in a program which would not have a good reputation. There are lots of discussions and ratings on this website. Everybody has a different opinion about it. In a nutshell the best LLMs usually follow the school's reputation in the US and worldwide: Yale, Harvard, Stanford, Columbia, NYU, Penn, Georgetown, Berkeley, UCLA, Fordham... You can find rankings on LLM-GUIDE.

<blockquote>Hello,

I ask you to excuse my ignorance but what should I do to work as a lawyer in the U.S? I am a lawyer in my country (Malta) in possession of a European LLB and also a diploma as Notary Public (Dip. Not.). I believe that the only route for me would be to get an LLM in the U.S and then attempt the NY or CA bar examination no? Please correct me if I am wrong. I would like to do a masters in law anyway so what would be a good university for an LLM?

Thanks a lot for any help, this site is very very helpful.</blockquote>

Hi,

1. To be able to qualify as a US attorney, you would indeed need to attend a LLM in the US to be able to take some bar exams like NY. This is certainly true for lawyers coming from civil law jurisdictions. However, as Malta was under British influence it may be a common law jurisdiction. If so, I would encourage you to check with the NY Bar board of examiners (http://www.nybarexam.org/) directly whether you would qualify to take the NY Bar exam without a US LLM.

2. California usually allows qualified lawyers from civil law jurisdictions to take their bar exam. Please note that the CA Bar exam has a reputation for being one of the most selective in the US. Once again I would incite you to check with them directly what is possible (http://www.calbar.ca.gov/state/calbar/calbar_home.jsp)

3. Regarding your last question and considering the money to be invested in a LLM, I would encourage you to try to attend the best possible program in the US. A US LLM will undoubtedly be expensive so I do not think that it is worth investing your money in a program which would not have a good reputation. There are lots of discussions and ratings on this website. Everybody has a different opinion about it. In a nutshell the best LLMs usually follow the school's reputation in the US and worldwide: Yale, Harvard, Stanford, Columbia, NYU, Penn, Georgetown, Berkeley, UCLA, Fordham... You can find rankings on LLM-GUIDE.

quote

frankie001

2 3

Posted Mar 25, 2009 14:53

Thanks a real lot Koala, you answered my questions very clearly. I was interested in the LLM offered at Yale however it said on their site that this is offered to people interested in becoming Law professors or teaching law. My grades are average so I would consider myself to be more of a rounder than an 'A' student. Do you have an idea which universities are more likely to accept me and which I should not even bother applying to?

Thanks again for all your help!

quote

koala

86 171

Posted Mar 25, 2009 16:19

Thanks a real lot Koala, you answered my questions very clearly. I was interested in the LLM offered at Yale however it said on their site that this is offered to people interested in becoming Law professors or teaching law. My grades are average so I would consider myself to be more of a rounder than an 'A' student. Do you have an idea which universities are more likely to accept me and which I should not even bother applying to?

Thanks again for all your help!

You should try to apply to most of the top 14 US law schools and see what happens. They require the same kind of documents, essays,...register with LSAC so that they centralise your transcripts and send them directly to the law schools you apply to.

Yale seems unrealistic if you are not a top graded student but who knows...

<blockquote>Thanks a real lot Koala, you answered my questions very clearly. I was interested in the LLM offered at Yale however it said on their site that this is offered to people interested in becoming Law professors or teaching law. My grades are average so I would consider myself to be more of a rounder than an 'A' student. Do you have an idea which universities are more likely to accept me and which I should not even bother applying to?

Thanks again for all your help!</blockquote>

You should try to apply to most of the top 14 US law schools and see what happens. They require the same kind of documents, essays,...register with LSAC so that they centralise your transcripts and send them directly to the law schools you apply to.

Yale seems unrealistic if you are not a top graded student but who knows...

quote

frankie001

2 3

Posted Mar 26, 2009 13:42

OK. Thanks for the advice!
=)

quote